The address Yogi had given him was located near the eastern side of Konoha.
Shinra walked through the streets quietly, occasionally glancing down at the slip of paper in his hand. Compared to the busy center of the village, this part of Konoha was noticeably quieter.
Many of the buildings here used more traditional architecture rather than the newer reconstructed style found near the center of the village. Some houses still carried old clan symbols carved into the wood, though many were small enough that Shinra couldn't immediately identify them.
'This area probably survived the Nine-Tails attack with minimal damage,' Shinra thought as he observed the surroundings.
Eventually, he stopped in front of a narrow two-story house.
Unlike the nearby homes, which were clean and orderly, this one looked somewhat neglected. Although the house itself wasn't damaged, just poorly managed like empty sake bottles rested carelessly beside the entrance and dusty windows that probably haven't been cleaned in a long time.
'This should be the place.'
Shinra knocked on the door.
No response.
He waited for a few moments before knocking again.
Still nothing.
'Did Yogi-sensei give me the wrong address?'
"You've been standing there for exactly one minute and thirteen seconds without noticing me, I thought the team Yogi leads is a reconnaissance unit?"
Shinra's pupils narrowed slightly.
A man sat on the roof above him, one leg hanging lazily over the edge.
Black hair.
Sharp features.
And stitched onto the shoulder of his dark robe was the unmistakable Uchiha crest.
'An Uchiha?'
Shinra's eyes briefly flickered toward the surrounding streets.
Ever since the tensions surrounding the Uchiha clan began increasing, the compound had become heavily monitored. An Uchiha living outside the clan district wasn't impossible, but it was certainly unusual.
Especially one that Yogi trusted enough to teach fuinjutsu.
The man jumped down from the roof silently and landed in front of him.
Up close, Shinra noticed faint scars running near the man's neck and jawline.
More importantly—
His chakra felt strange.
Not large enough to overwhelm Shinra's senses, yet there was something sharp hidden beneath it that made him instinctively cautious.
The man observed him quietly before speaking.
"So you're the kid Yoji mentioned."
Shinra bowed respectfully.
"Yes, my name is Kamikaze Shinra."
The man's eyebrow twitched slightly before he replied.
"Uchiha Kurosawa."
Silence settled briefly between them.
Then Kurosawa unlocked the door and entered the house.
"Get inside."
The moment Shinra stepped through the doorway, his expression changed slightly.
The interior was a complete mess.
Bookshelves overflowed with scrolls.
Loose papers covered almost every available surface.
Complex symbols were scribbled across unfinished sheets spread over the floor and walls alike.
Several strange markings had even been carved directly into the wooden floorboards.
The room smelled heavily of ink, paper, and alcohol.
'This place looks more like a research lab than a home.'
Kurosawa sat beside a low table and gestured toward the floor.
"Sit."
Shinra obeyed quietly.
For a while, Kurosawa simply drank from the sake bottle while observing him.
Then—
"Why do you want to learn fuinjutsu?"
Shinra answered honestly.
"Because it's useful."
Kurosawa snorted lightly.
"At least you're honest."
He leaned back slightly and pointed toward the formulas scattered around the room.
"Most shinobi think fuinjutsu is some miraculous art capable of solving everything."
His tone carried obvious disdain.
"It isn't."
Shinra remained silent and listened carefully.
"Fuinjutsu is just really a very complicated puzzle that never ends."
Kurosawa grabbed a brush and pulled over a blank sheet of paper.
Without hesitation, he began drawing symbols across it.
Straight lines.
Circles.
Intersections.
Symbols Shinra didn't recognize.
"Storage formulas."
Another pattern.
"Barrier formulas."
Another.
"Suppression formulas."
The brush moved smoothly and precisely despite Kurosawa's otherwise careless appearance.
"Just like how most ninja use hand seals to use ninjutsu, fuinjutsu merely changes the prerequisite from hand seals to these characters."
Kurosawa placed the brush down.
"A storage scroll. An explosive tag. A sealing array."
He tapped the unfinished formula with his finger.
"Unlike ninjutsu even the simplest mistake in the formula would result in failure to activate the seal."
Shinra looked closely at the symbols.
"…So destroying these seals is easier than creating them?"
Kurosawa smirked faintly for the first time.
"No, not necessarily. Seals can be hidden from the naked eye and only appear when necessary conditions are met, like infusing chakra into it."
He pointed toward Shinra and threw towards him a paper that appeared to be empty.
"Try channeling some chakra into the paper."
Shinra did as he was told and suddenly a symbol appeared on the paper that he is holding.
"If you ever reach a high enough level you will be able to implant seals in an instant without the need of any tools to assist you. But even I never reached such a level after 20 years of practice."
The room fell quiet.
Shinra stared at the unfinished formula for several moments.
For the first time since arriving in this world, he felt like he was looking at something fundamentally different from all that he has learned.
Kurosawa suddenly stood up and walked toward a large cabinet positioned against the wall.
He opened it.
Inside were dozens upon dozens of scrolls stacked together tightly.
Without warning, he grabbed an entire pile and dropped them in front of Shinra.
The stack hit the floor heavily.
Dust scattered slightly into the air.
Shinra looked down at the titles.
Basic Chakra Conductivity Theory.
Symbolic Formula Structuring.
Intermediate Formula Stability.
Basic Seal Symmetry.
His eyebrow twitched faintly.
"…These are all theory."
"Obviously."
Kurosawa sat back down and took another drink.
"You thought I'd teach you actual seals immediately?"
Shinra stayed silent.
Kurosawa scoffed.
"This is why most seal users are mediocre."
His Sharingan spun briefly.
One of the paper tags hanging from the ceiling suddenly ignited into flames before extinguishing moments later.
"A single mistake in a formula can kill you."
The burned tag crumbled into ash.
"Or worse."
Shinra glanced back toward the pile of scrolls.
For the first time in a long while he felt a bit excited, the existence of Fuinjutsu preceded even ninjutsu which was created by Indra, mastering the basics might take him some time but it might become his most important skill in his arsenal in the future.
Kurosawa observed his expression silently before speaking again.
"Good."
He waved his hand dismissively.
"Only when you memorise all of them come back here again.."
"All of them."
Kurosawa leaned back lazily.
Shinra nodded his head lightly to show his understanding.
"Don't come back until you understand the fundamentals."
Shinra looked around the room once more while gathering the scrolls.
No family photos.
No signs that another person lived here.
No indication that anyone visited often.
Just scrolls, formulas, and alcohol.
'An Uchiha living outside the compound alone…'
The more Shinra thought about it, the stranger it seemed.
Especially now.
With tensions inside the clan growing steadily, someone like Kurosawa should either be deeply involved politically or heavily monitored by the clan itself.
Yet instead he lived here alone, isolated from both the compound and the rest of the village.
'Did he leave willingly?'
"…Thank you for accepting to teach me, Kurosawa-sensei."
Kurosawa paused slightly.
For a brief moment, his expression softened.
Then it disappeared immediately.
"Tch."
He grabbed the sake bottle again.
"Get out already."
Shinra bowed once more before leaving the house carrying enough scrolls to nearly fill his backpack.
As the door closed behind him, Kurosawa stared silently toward the entrance.
After a while, he muttered quietly—
"Yoji really brought me an annoying disciple."
Yet despite his complaints, a trace of worry appeared on his face before disappearing behind another drink of sake.